Virginia is for Lovers
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Virginia is for Lovers is the tourism and travel slogan of the state of Virginia. Used since 1969, it has become a well recognized and often imitated part of American jargon. For example, New York drew on its success to create the I Love New York logo nearly a decade later in 1977. Maryland also parodied this phrase with their own "Maryland is for Crabs" slogan.
A team led by George Woltz of Martin and Woltz Inc. of Richmond, Virginia came up with the slogan after winning the Virginia State Travel account in 1968. Originally, they had come up with history ads, "Virginia is for History Lovers"; beach ads, "Virginia is for Beach Lovers"; and mountain ads, "Virginia is for Mountain Lovers". This approach was eventually discarded as too limiting, and the qualifiers were dropped. "Virginia is for Lovers" was born. Martin and Woltz Inc. eventually gained prominence and grew to become The Martin Agency.
The first year that the slogan was introduced, travelers spent $800 million in Virginia. By 2004, that number had increased to more than $14 billion, making Virginia the tenth most popular tourist destination of the fifty states.
